Friday, July 25, 2014

Only A Shadow (Fated Blades #0.5)


Only A Shadow: (An eSpecial from Roc) - Steve Bein This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Only A Shadow
Series: Fated Blades
Author: Steve Bein
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 61


Synopsis:
A ninja clan must disgrace a local leader whose goal is to wipe them out. They must steal his Fated Blade, which will then allow them to destroy him.

The old crafty ninja-master is training a young man and part of the training is out-smarting the young man so he'll realize that wisdom takes time to accumulate.

My Thoughts:
This was a fun little short story about one of the Fated Blades.

It was an adventure story with the stealing of the Blade. It was a teaching tale with the old ninja out-smarting the double-crossing young man. And finally, it was a Fated Blade Story, enough said.

The page count is a little mis-leading, as the story ends around page 45 and the rest was an excerpt from the first Fated Blade book, Daughter of the Sword. I really dislike when those type of things happen, even while I understand why the publishers keep doing it.

There was NO fantasy element to this story, nor any cross-over to present time with Mariko. I was a little disappointed, as I like the Mariko storylines more than the historical ones. However, this was still a great story and to be honest, I'd recommend someone trying this short story out if they weren't sure of starting the series.

Bein is a good writer, and sadly, that is more of a compliment than it should be. However, it is refreshing to read a well written short story that isn't boring or full of cardboard characters.

No comments:

Post a Comment